1980-2006, Analysis Of The British Labour Party's Parliamentary Elections

The United Kingdom is the first country in the world that has established two-party system.After World War II, the Labour Party, as one of the two main British political parties, has played adecisive role in British politics. Since 1979 to 2006, the Conservative Party and Labour party hadbeen respectively in government continuously for a long time. Conservative was from 1979 to1997, while Labour was after 1997. The changes of Labour Party itself lead to unusual politics inUK after World War II. During this period, some great changes took place in British society, whichwas closely related to the performance of Labour in elections. The research on the performancehas a great significance on analysis of changes in British society. This article studies theperformance of Labour in elections from 1980 to 2006, analyzes the changes of British politicsand society, and explains the relationship between the changes of British society and performanceof Labour in parliamentary elections.The whole article is divided into three chapters:The first part mainly summarizes the situations of Labour Party in elections from 1980 to2006. In 1980s, Labour got quite a beating in the two elections, due to internal disorder and ownpolitical chaos. In the early 80s, a part of the right that split from the Labour Party set up theSocial Democratic Party, which deeply weakened the power of Labour. Meanwhile, the conflictbetween the left and the right in Labour also lead to the chaos in the election policy. In the 90s, theLabour Party was defeated in the election of 1992, but the gap with Conservative was narrowedsignificantly. Finally, Labour won the election of 1997 with a landslide victory and continued inthe following three general elections. The three leader of the Labour Party during 1980 to 2006 arealso introduced in this part.The second part mainly introduces various factors that influence the Labour Party in thegeneral elections. There are many internal and external factors that have great impacts on Labourfrom long-term opposite to continuous victory. In order to win in a general election, financialsupport and media help are important. What’s more, relationship between the Labour Party andLabour Union is a vital factor in general election. If Labour doesn’t build a good relationship withthe Union, it not only stands in the way of election, but also has a bad influence even Labourcomes to power.The third part mainly introduces the reform of the Labour Party and the causes of that. In1980s, strength of Labour was weakened by the internal disorder due to the conflict between the right and left. In this period, the Labour Party always suffered defeat and was being opposite for along time, so the Party had to reform. Labour changed from central-left party to central, and stoodfor interests of central constituents instead of that of labour class. In the mean time, great changestook place in British society. The traditional classes changed, so the Labour Party had to look forthe new class power which could help him to win the general election. Also, the enlightenment toparties in other countries, through the performance of the Labour Party in general elections during1980 to 2006, is analyzed in this part..